The analyst expects Apple's pro laptop update to sport to higher performance, enhanced graphics, beefed-up video capability, superior displays, and better battery life to further differentiate it from the consumer-oriented MacBook. Less likely though still possible, per Wu, is the rumored ultra-portable sub-notebook.

"We believe there is a fair likelihood that Apple will introduce a new subnotebook named 'MacBook mini,' which uses NAND flash as primary storage," he wrote to clients.

However, Wu thinks that a late 2007 or early 2008 debut for such a device is more likely. The analyst thinks the MacBook mini will use NAND flash for its primary storage and that its release date will depend on NAND pricing declines.

Wu also thinks that Leopard may have virtualization features far beyond the "rebooting into Windows" capability of Boot Camp. He's one of those expecting (hoping?) for "virtual machine" technology that allows users to run multiple operating systems simultaneously without restarting.

"If so, we believe this would serve as a major catalyst for Mac sales," Wu told clients. "We continue to believe the key reason Leopard was delayed until October was to give developers time to test secret features."

Meanwhile, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster thinks we’ll see new MacBook Pros, perhaps new iMacs and, of course, more info on Leopard at WWDC. See our May 23 [url=http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/analyst_predicts_new_macbook_pros_imacs_at_wwdc]report[/url] for details.

[url=http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/]WWDC[/url] will be held June 11-15 in San Francisco at the Moscone West convention. Apple CEO Steve Jobs will kick things off with a keynote address beginning at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 11.

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